The New Orleans Saints thought they had their first touchdown of the 2026 season on Sunday in Detroit. Then replay took it away, and the explanation that followed left half the football world scratching its head. Former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played 17 seasons for nine different teams, including the Buffalo Bills, responded to the ruling on X with a request of his own.

“@NFL per this ruling, I’d like the league to review all 169 of my interceptions,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “My intent was clearly to throw to MY receiver. Please advise.”

The joking remark played off the unusual nature of the ruling. The New Orleans Saints looked to have scored on a fumble, but the ruling changed once officials looked at what Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff was doing before the ball came loose.

Midway through the second quarter at Ford Field, with the Lions leading 7-0, Goff dropped back to pass. Saints defensive end Chase Young got to him quickly and knocked the ball loose as Goff was winding up. The ball caromed backward roughly 15 yards before Saints defensive back Jonas Sanker scooped it up and ran it into the end zone untouched.

Officials initially ruled the play a backward pass, making the loose ball live and giving Sanker the opportunity to score. The score would have tied the game at 7-7. But replay overturned the call. Instead of a backward pass and fumble, officials ruled Goff’s throw an incomplete forward pass.

FOX Sports officiating analyst Mike Pereira explained the decision during the broadcast. He pointed to the moment Goff began his throwing motion, bringing the ball up into his windup, as the key to the ruling.

“He had started his throwing motion,” Pereira said. “Throwing motion is bringing the ball up. Then his hit, ball comes loose. His intent was to throw it forward. And since that motion had already started, that’s going to be a forward pass no matter where it lands.”

NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth gave the same explanation afterward in a pool report with PFWA reporter Ben Raven. The timing of Young’s contact was what mattered.

“If the defender contacts the passer prior to the passer starting his throwing motion, then it can be ruled as a backward pass,” Butterworth said. “Because Goff already started his throwing motion and then the defender contacted him, it is therefore a forward pass.”

Last season’s Rams-Seahawks game offered another strange backward-pass situation. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold threw the ball backward on a two-point play, and the ruling stayed a backward pass. The circumstances were different from Goff’s play because Darnold was not hit as he started his throwing motion.

That said, Saints players expressed frustration with the overturned touchdown. New Orleans linebacker Kaden Elliss didn’t argue the rulebook, but made clear what his eyes told him.

“To me, it looked a whole lot like a sack/fumble,” Elliss said.

When the decision was made and when the Cameras showed Young on the sideline after the call, he stood there in disbelief, with a shocked expression on his face. Later on, however, in the postgame press conference, he brushed off the matter. “It’s alright,” he said. “I just went to the next play.”

The Saints still had a chance to win after that. Quarterback Tyler Shough helped New Orleans erase a 21-0 deficit in the third quarter, finishing 35-of-56 for 410 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. He tied the game with about a minute left in regulation, but Detroit won 31-30 in overtime.

That one-point finish made Fitzpatrick’s joke even more pointed.